Barack Obama - Ammo Purchases

Last Updated : Sep 19, 2012

Summary

Throughout the summer of 2012, several facets of the government purchased a variety of ammunition in quantities and types that caused a number of people to be suspicious as to the purpose. This was compounded by changes to purchase orders after attention was brought to them.

In total, close to 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition was ordered between April and August of 2012. This ammunition primarily consisted of .223 ammunition for AR-15s or M16s. The largest purchase of ammunition was placed by the Department of Homeland Security and the amounts of ammo being purchased were later redacted. Ammo was also purchased through an order for the National Weather Service was later altered to send the ammunition to the Fisheries and Wildlife group.

Date

Organization

Ammo

March 2012

Department of Homeland Security

450 million rounds of .40 caliber hollow point

April 2012

Department of Homeland Security

750 million rounds of .223 and other calibers

August 2012

Social Security

174 thousand rounds of .357 hollow point

August 2012

National Weather Service

16 thousand rounds of .40 hollow point

August 2012

Department of Homeland Security

33 millions of .223 ammo per year for up to five years totalling 165 million rounds

To keep the amounts of ammunition in perspective, US military forces used a total of 1.8 billion rounds of total ammunition per year in 2010. That was an estimated 250,000 of rounds for every insurgent killed. The volume of the ammunition ordered raised concerns, and the fact that much of the ammo was hollow point caused people to be suspicious of the claims that it was for qualification purposes on paper targets.

The orders were originally reported through InfoWars.com and PrisonPlanet.com - two sites owned by Austin talk radio host Alex Jones. The articles voice concern that the ammo was ordered in preparation of a military or police crack down in the wake of an economic crisis. Later articles from other sources hinted that the ammo could have been ordered to be sent to Syria to aid the rebels there.

DHS Purchase of 450 Million Rounds

In March of 2012 the Department of Homeland Security had an order filled by ATK of Minnesota to provide 450 million rounds of .40 caliber bullets.

DHS Purchase of 750 Million Rounds

In April of 2012 the Department of Homeland Security issued a purchase order that was updated in August of 2012. The order called for a plethora of types of ordinance totalling 750 million rounds of ammunition. The bulk of this ammo consisted of .223 ammo for M16 or AR-15 variants. Not long after this story became a controversy, the DHS redacted the information concerning the amounts of ammunition.

Social Security Purchase

On August 7, 2012 the Social Security Administration issued a request for a quote for a purchase order. The order was for 174 thousand rounds of ammunition described as .357 Duty Carry Sig 125 gain bonded JHP hollow point bullet ammunition for Law Enforcement. The ammunition is to be delivered to 41 locations and the winner of the order must be capable of delivering the ammo within 60 days of award which would be mid October of 2012.

NWS Purchase

On August 9, 2012 the National Weather Service put out a purchase order looking for 16,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point (JHP) bullets, to be delivered to locations in Ellsworth, Maine, and New Bedford, Mass. An additional 6,000 rounds was be sent to Wall, New Jersey, with another 24,000 rounds of the same bullets heading to the weather station in St. Petersburg, Florida. In addition to these 46,000 bullets, 500 paper targets were purchased. The order was to be closed by August 21, 2012.

Not long after the original purchase order, NOAA claimed that the initial order for the National Weather Service was a “clerical error” and insisted the ammunition was being sent to the Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement.

DHS Yearly Purchases

On August 16, 2012 an order was presented for the Department of Homeland Security to purchase 33 million rounds of .223 ammo in a year, with the option to purchase the same amount for the next four years. This would be a total of 165 million over that time.

Blanks Purchases

On September 6, 2012 the Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch of the Department of Homeland Security put out a purchase order for 25,000 rounds of blanks in the form of .308 caliber bullets.

Sniper Rifle Ammo

On September 11, 2012 the ICE section of the DHS put out another purchase order looking for 176,000 ROUNDS of .308 caliber 168 Grain hollow point ammunition.